Posts Tagged CDMA
SSTL and ZTE sign seven-year infrastructure deal (India)
Indian cellco Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTL) has announced that it has inked a seven-year deal with China’s ZTE for the provision of network equipment and infrastructure. Under the agreement ZTE will provide wireless and core network equipment for SSTL as the cellco looks to complete its pan-India rollout by 3Q 2010. Additionally, the two companies will ‘explore other collaborative possibilities going forward’. No financial details of the deal have been disclosed. SSTL has launched commercial CDMA-based services in the Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Kerala circles.
1 comment May 15, 2009
Motorola signs frame agreement with China Mobile
Motorola has announced that it has signed a one-year frame agreement with China Mobile Communications Corporation (CMCC) to provide wireless equipment and services. The frame agreement’s projected shipment and services value is estimated to be USD310 million. Under the deal Motorola will supply GSM/GPRS/EDGE infrastructure and related services in various markets already served by its radio infrastructure equipment. The kit will be used by China Mobile to provide voice and data capacity and will ensure interoperability between the cellco’s GSM and TD-SCDMA networks. ‘Motorola has worked with China Mobile for more than 20 years,’ said Dr. Mohammad Akhtar, vice president and general manager of Home and Networks Mobility, Motorola China. ‘As a long-term strategic partner of China Mobile, Motorola is proud to continue being a part of its growth. Motorola has always been an innovator and pioneer in the mobile telecoms industry. With the comprehensive end-to-end portfolio that covers 2G, 3G and LTE, Motorola stands ready to support China Mobile in building a state-of-the-art network that maximises investments and delivers the most appealing communications experiences to its end users at home and on-the-go.’
Add comment May 14, 2009
SingTel’s mobile customer base reaches 249m (Singapore)
Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) says it added 64 million net new customers (+35%) in the year to 31 March 2009, to take its combined regional mobile customer base to 249 million. The group’s aggregate mobile customer base in all eight markets – Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand – grew 7.3%, or 17 million on a sequential quarterly basis despite the intense competition in the markets and the slowdown in the economies. Meanwhile, the proportionate mobile customer base rose 33% from a year ago or 7% from a quarter ago, it said.
SingTel’s regional associates continued to post double-digit customer growth of between 10% and 52% compared to a year ago. Bharti, India’s number one mobile phone operator by subscribers, posted the biggest jump in customers: its mobile base reached 93.9 million customers as at 31 March 2009, an increase of 52% from a year ago or 9.7% on a quarterly basis. Indonesian cellco Telkomsel increased its base by 41% or 20.8 million from a year ago, and added 6.8 million new customers in 1Q09 alone, and grew its market share by three percentage points to 49% by end-March. Thailand and the Philippines, classed as ‘more mature markets’ by SingTel, also posted strong mobile customer additions. AIS in Thailand added 2.5 million mobile subscribers, up 10%, while Globe added 4.5 million mobile customers or 21% more than a year ago. In Pakistan, Warid grew its total customer base by three million to 17.4 million, an increase of 21% from a year ago. PBTL’s total mobile customer base in Bangladesh was 1.9 million, an increase of 315,000, or 20% on 1Q08. Elsewhere, Australian subsidiary Optus’ mobile customer base expanded 9.1% from a year ago to 7.79 million as at 31 March 2009.
In its home market, SingTel extended its market share and leadership position in the mobile segment it said, adding 405,000 new customers, or 16% more from a year ago, bringing its total mobile customer base to 2.98 million and extending its market share to 46.4% as at 31 March 2009, an increase of three percentage points from a year ago. A total of 34,000 new mobile customers were added during the quarter, of which 22,000 were post-paid net additions. Demand for 3G services continued to remain strong, with 72,000 subscribers added. As at 31 March 2009, SingTel’s total 3G mobile subscriber base reached 1.21 million, it said.
Add comment May 13, 2009
UK mobile advertising expenditure doubles in 2008
Expenditure on mobile advertising in the UK exceeded market expectation in 2008 and grew 99.2 percent year-on-year to reach a total of GBP 28.6 million, according to a study by the Internet Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Investment in mobile advertising grew at a faster rate than predicted as more UK brands invested in the medium due to its exceptional targeting, immediacy and return on investment. Mobile display advertising, which includes banners, text links, tenancies pre/post roll and in-game, accounted for GBP 14.2 million in 2008, 49.8 percent of all mobile advertising spend. Paid-for search advertising on mobile internet was estimated to account for GBP 14.4 million, 50.2 percent of all mobile advertising spend. In 2008, online advertising rose to GBP 3.35 billion, accounting for 19.2 percent of all advertising spend. A bigger audience is a key driver for the growth, where mobile internet usage increased in 2008 from 8.6 million in December 2007 to over 11 million in December 2008, and people on unlimited data plans has grown by a massive 109 percent in 2008. Other key drivers include advertising on mobile phones, social networking driving growth of mobile internet usage, better and smarter handsets, growth in mobile departments and mobile advertising knowledge in the market. This survey represents solely mobile media spend, and therefore do not include mobile marketing expenditure such as SMS or MMS production and delivery costs.
Source- www.telecompaper.com
Add comment May 13, 2009
AT&T Offering Phones, BlackBerrys On Rural Spectrum (USA)
AT&T announced that the 1.5 million subscribers it will acquire from Verizon Wireless will be shifted from Verizon’s CDMA network to AT&T’s GSM network within 12 months of the deal’s completion. The assets were previously owned and managed by Alltel, which was acquired by Verizon Wireless earlier this year for $28.1 billion. AT&T, which will pay $2.35 billion for the assets, said it will spend another $400 million on the switchover. The AT&T-Verizon deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2009, AT&T said. Subscribers in the mostly rural regions will be able to receive mobile broadband on AT&T smartphones, including iPhones and BlackBerry Bolds, after the transition is completed, the company indicated in an announcement late Friday. In a smaller deal in the wireless-infrastructure musical chairs exercises between the two largest U.S. wireless carriers, AT&T said it will sell some wireless assets of Centennial Communications to Verizon Wireless.
1 comment May 13, 2009
AT&T to acquire mobile assets from Verizon Wireless (USA)
AT&T has agreed to acquire mobile assets from Verizon Wireless for USD 2.35 billion in cash. AT&T will acquire mobile properties, including licences, network assets and 1.5 million current subscribers in 79 service areas, primarily in rural areas across eighteen states. Verizon Wireless is required to divest these properties as part of the regulatory approvals granted for its purchase of Alltel earlier this year. The states represented are Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming. While the transaction primarily represents former Alltel assets, but it also includes assets from Verizon Wireless and the former Rural Cellular. AT&T expects integration costs for network conversion, amortisation of intangible assets and subscriber migration to result in dilution to EPS of approximately USD 0.06 per share in the first year after closing and to improve thereafter. Network conversion from Verizon’s CDMA network to GSM technology and transition of the operations to AT&T is expected to take no longer than 12 months from the date the transaction closes and to result in an additional planned capital investment of approximately USD 400 million over 2009 and 2010. The transaction is contingent upon regulatory approval and is expected to close in the fourth quarter. AT&T has also agreed to sell certain mobile assets of Centennial Communications to Verizon Wireless for USD 240 million.
Add comment May 11, 2009
NSN launches combined 2G/3G/LTE base station
Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has launched a new base station that will support GSM/EDGE, WCDMA/HSPA and LTE in a single unit. The vendor said the new multi-radio base station – part of its ‘Flexi’ range – is targeted at existing 2G and 3G operators that are looking for a simple software upgrade to next generation mobile technologies; it is also aimed at CDMA operators planning to migrate to WCDMA/HSPA or LTE. NSN claimed that running multiple radio technologies in a single base station would cut costs as it maximises the re-use of existing infrastructure, and requires fewer site visits and maintenance.
NSN also talked up the new product’s green credentials, claiming the base station has the lowest energy consumption in the market. It said that an average three sector base station site running GSM/EDGE and WCDMA/HSPA simultaneously would consume as little as 790W. The new base stations will start being deployed at the beginning of 2010.
Add comment February 10, 2009
Movilnet bolsters regional GSM, CDMA networks
Venezuelan cellco Movilnet has reported that in 2008 it strengthened its coverage in western central areas of the country, by deploying 109 GSM and 14 CDMA2000 1x base stations covering Lara, Yaracuy and Portuguesa, to take its total in those cities to 232 base stations. Asdrubal Pire, head of operations and systems for Movilnet in the central region, explained, ‘We had already covered most of the major roads and major towns, and additionally, there were increases in capacity in urban areas.’ Movilnet, a wholly owned subsidiary of state-owned telco CANTV, launched commercial GSM services with limited coverage in December 2008. At that date the GSM network spanned 1,000 base stations (up from 760 in September 2008). Commercial GSM coverage was initially only available in the Portuguesa and Nueva Esparta areas.
Add comment February 9, 2009
China Telecom to buy 50m CDMA handsets in 2009
Interfax China reports that China Telecom plans to purchase 50 million CDMA handsets in 2009, of which around 20 million will be CDMA2000 1xEV-DO capable. Quoting an employee of the cellco’s handset division, Ma Daojie, Telecom opened bidding for the first CDMA2000 1x EV-DO contract at the end of 2008 and has since finished selecting terminals, including handsets and wireless data cards. The results of the tender will be released ‘soon’. Ma said according to his company’s calculations, the operator will sell an average of 50,000 CDMA handsets per day in 2009.
Add comment February 9, 2009
Vietnamobile to launch GSM services
HT Mobile successor, Vietnamobile, is set to launch wireless services in the first quarter of 2009, after it finishes converting its CDMA technology to GSM. Vietnamobile will be the country’s fourth GSM service provider to launch services, after MobiFone, Vinaphone and Viettel. HT Mobile, a joint venture between Hanoi Telecom and Hong Kong-based Hutchison Telecommunications, launched in 2007 and received a licence to convert to GSM in March 2008, as a result of its poor service provision. It purchased GSM equipment worth USD600 million from Ericsson and China’s Huawei in August 2008.
Add comment February 6, 2009
Wana awarded third 2G licence (Morocco)
The prime minister of Morocco has approved the award of the country’s third 2G mobile licence to Wana, a subsidiary of domestic conglomerate Omnium Nord Afrique (ONA), after studying a recommendation by the National Agency of Telecommunications Regulation (ANRT). The award follows the launch of a tender by the ANRT on 30 October 2008, in accordance with its plan for the development of the telecoms sector and a decision by the regulator’s board in May 2008. After Wana submitted a bid by a deadline of 6 January 2009, an evaluation of its offer was made on technical and economic aspects, including commitments on infrastructure, coverage, quality of service, the diversity of product offerings and coherency of its business plan.
The 15-year nationwide licence includes frequencies in the 1800MHz band suitable for GSM-based services, but is technology-neutral. Wana (formerly Maroc Connect) won a 3G licence in July 2006, which it added to an existing concession to offer CDMA-based services, and will join rivals Maroc Telecom and Meditel in the 2G GSM-based market. According to the ANRT, the concession winner must undertake to make a significant investment and provide innovative services to meet market expectations and contribute to the improvement of telecoms facilities in Morocco. In addition to direct financial investment, Wana must help finance the redevelopment of the frequency spectrum under a budget of MAD36 million (USD4.6 million), the regulator said in its report.
Add comment February 5, 2009
RCOM launches GSM network in New Delhi (India)
India’s Economic Times is reporting that Reliance Communications (RCOM) has launched GSM-based mobile services in the capital Delhi, following a string of GSM rollouts across the country. The operator has installed approximately 950 new cellular towers in the region for the launch, and is expected to share the existing infrastructure of its CDMA-based operations in the circle; it has around 850 existing towers in Delhi. Initially only pre-paid GSM services are available, although RCOM has indicated that post-paid options will be offered in approximately three weeks.
Add comment February 3, 2009
Shyam Telelink becomes Sistema Shyam TeleServices; considering CDMA acquisitions (India)
Indian CDMA operator Shyam Telelink has announced that it has formally changed its name to Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTS). SSTS is a joint venture between Russian conglomerate Sistema and the Shyam Group of India. Commenting on the name change SSTS CEO, Vsevolod Rozanov, said, ‘Sistema is the majority shareholder in this venture with Shyam Group being the other partner. As our name suggests, we envisage optimizing this synergy of two players from different countries with a clear-cut focus on becoming a strong telecom player in India.’
In separate but related news SSTS has said it is considering acquisitions of other CDMA businesses in a bid to increase the speed of its pan-India rollout. Having announced a target date of mid-2010 for the completion of its country-wide rollout, Mr Rozanov said the operator will look at any opportunities to acquire other CDMA-based operators. SSTS launched services in the Rajasthan circle in October 2008, and has said it will begin commercial operations in Tamil Nadu and Kerala by March 2009. It hopes to complete rollouts in at least ten circles by the end of the year.
Add comment February 2, 2009
Telkomsel gets new boss as price war toughens (Indonesia)
Shareholders of PT Telekomunikasi Seluler (Telkomsel), the nation’s largest cellular operator, introduced Thursday Sarwoto Atmosutarno as the company’s new president director replacing Kiskenda Suriahardja.
Sarwoto moves on from his post as executive general manager of the infrastructure division for Telkomsel’s parent state-run PT Telkom, the nation’s largest telecom firm. Telkomsel is 65 percent owned by publicly listed Telkom, while the remaining 35 percent is owned by Singapore Telecom Mobile Pte Ltd.
“My priority will be to improve the quality of our voice and broadband products by expanding network and bandwidth. This is to keep up with the current stiff competition,” Sarwoto told The Jakarta Post Thursday after the inauguration.
“I will also take advantage of the market community of both Telkom and Telkomsel customers, and leverage synergy between the companies to boost efficiency.”
The replacement of Telkomsel’s chief was made without going through the regular shareholder’s meeting, amid the company’s losing price war against rivals that sent its profits plunging by 7 percent during the first nine months of last year to Rp 9.7 trillion (US$858 million) from Rp 9.08 trillion in the same period of 2007 despite a 36 percent jump in subscribers to 60.5 million, or a 46 percent market share.
Telkomsel is the operator of Kartu Halo, Simpati and Kartu As. This year, Kartu Halo’s call rate fell 30 percent, Simpati’s by 47 percent and Kartu AS’s by 25 percent.
“We are going to see the price war more wisely. That’s why we’re going to focus on improving our service (rather) than getting drowned with our rivals in cutting the call rates,” said Sarwoto, who is a Telkom career official dealing mostly with satellite technology.
Indonesia is home to 11 GSM and CDMA-based cellular phone operators, backed by international giants including Qatar Telecom, Telekom Malaysia, Saudi Telecom, and Hutchison Telecommunications International.
Telkomsel’s former president director Kiskenda, who was on the post since 2005, said in November last year that the company had been more supportive of the public by providing cheaper call rates than to the shareholders by slapping on higher rates to earn more profits. “This is the consequence (of the cheap rate), which eventually (has) trimmed our profit,” said Kiskenda in his defense over Telkomsel’s slumped first nine months profits.
Add comment January 30, 2009
Boost Mobile to boot out CDMA
Sprint Nextel subsidiary Boost Mobile has confirmed it is working to transfer all of its subscribers to iDEN over time. At present Boost will still support CDMA products but will no longer promote them. In an aggressive move earlier this month the MVNO, running on Sprint’s smaller Nextel network, launched a USD50 per month unlimited mobile package.
Add comment January 29, 2009
TRAI proposes more players in CDMA 3G (India)
TRAI want DoT to bring in atleast two operators for 3G services in the CDMA space in opposition to the current situation which has only one 3G operator being offered a 3G spectrum. The DoT present policy guidelines which only offers a single 3G block for CDMA operators.
“The authority understands that it is perhaps possible to identify more than one carrier in the 800-MHz band. It is all the more imperative as there are more than two access service providers in this category of technology for competition. Therefore, the authority recommends DoT may explore more than one block in the 800-MHz band for CDMA 3G services,” said Trai in a communication to DoT.
Trai also proposed that the base price for CDMA operators should be 25% of that of the GSM players.
Add comment January 29, 2009
Gicell to start CDMA mobile network in Nigeria
Gicell Wireless announced plans to roll out a mobile network with what it said is the cheapest call tariff ever in Nigeria. CEO Malam Usman Abubakar Gumi told the Daily Trust that the new CDMA2000 network in the 450 MHz band will debut in February, covering five states. Gicell, which has financial backing from the World Bank, aims to quickly expand that to nationwide coverage. The company has been designated a universal access service provider, focused on services for un-served and under-served areas in Nigeria. Gicell has secured a grant of USD 5 million from the World Bank for the project, and local banks, corporate groups and individual investors are also partly funding the project.
Add comment January 28, 2009
New Porsche Mobile Phone Coming Soon
Porsche Design Group is introducing its new mobile phone P’9522, blending a linear shape with innovative communications technology.
The Porsche Design P’9522 is milled from a single solid aluminum block and a single sheet of scratchproof glass, its finish is pure and sleek. The rough, raw materials used to build the P’9522 have been crafted to underscore the refined design. In combination with its quintessential black and brushed aluminum finish, the P’9522 represents the timeless and authentic design philosophy of the brand. The P’9522 has the very latest communications technology together with excellent sound and picture reproduction:
Display. The touchscreen display makes navigating through the menus smooth, easy and intuitive. The AM OLED display ensures top quality color reproduction and brightness.
Mobile navigation. The phone has a built-in GPS receiver for mobile navi-gation purposes. The 2.8 inch widescreen display makes it easy to read the information on the screen.
Finger print sensor. Access to personal data is secured by means of a sensor which identifies the user’s finger print.
Pictures and video. The P’9522 is equipped with a stills and video camera with auto focus. The camera has a resolution of five megapixels, integrated flash and digital zoom.
Music. The P’9522 is equipped with an MP3 player for music, ring tones and voice reproduction in stereo quality.
Internet. Speedy internet access is assured, thanks to the P’9522’s WiFi technology.
Quad band. This is a quad band cell phone, compatible with most global networks (with the exception of Japan and Korea).
The P’9522 thus reflects the brand’s clear design language and lives up to its promise of blending together high quality materials, top of the range workmanship and innovative technology. On sale in November 2008 the premium mobile phone will be available worldwide in Porsche Design Stores and in specialist shops.
Porsche Design is a luxury brand with particular focus on technically inspired products. The brand was founded in 1972 by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, and since then its products have stood for functional, timeless and purist design. The product portfolio includes classic men’s accessories, a sport and fashion collection as well as electronic products and a men’s fragrance range. The products are designed in the Porsche Design Studio in Zell am See, Austria, and sold worldwide in own stores, shop-in-shops, high quality department stores and exclusive retail outlets.
Technical Data-
Cellular standard: GSM-GPRS / EDGE Class 10: Quadband 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
Fingerprint sensor: Secured Documents / PIN code replacement / Shortcuts
Display: AM-OLED 262k color, 2.8″ widescreen touch display, 400 x 240 [WQVGA] pixels
GPS
Size: 112 [4.4] x 49 [1.9] x 12 [0.5] (Height x Width x Depth/ mm [inches])
Weight: 115 [4.1] (gram [ounce])
Camera: 5 Megapixels, Auto-focus, LED-Flash
Images formats: BMP, GIF, PNG, JPEG
Video formats: MPEG-4 (record & play), H263, H264, 3GP (play)
Video application: Video Streaming, Progressive Download, Pack Video
Zoom: Digital on photo and video
Audio: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, Midi, WAV, AMR NB and WB, 3D sound, FM Radio, iMelody 1.2, XMF
Battery: Lithium-ion battery [880mAh]
Power: Talk Time: up to 4h; Standby Time: up to 300h
Memory: Up to 8 GB with microSD and up to 5 MB embedded
Data transfer: Bluetooth, USB 2.0, Mass Storage, Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), Porsche Design Mobile Phone Manager Suite (PC), Plugin iSync (MAC)
Bluetooth: Version 2.0; Supported profiles: AADP, AVRCP, HSP, HFP, OPP, SPP/DUNP, FTP, PBAP and SAP
Messaging: SMS with T9 / EMS / MMS
Internal phone book: Up to 5,000 (positions)
Messaging memory: Up to 700 (SMS/EMS/MMS)
Call history (positions): Up to 80 (for missed / made / received calls)
Applications & features: Organizer, To dos, Voice recorder, Currency converter, Alarm clock, Stop watch, Calculator, Modem, Web browser
In the box: Charger, MicroSD 2 GB with SD Adaptor, Multimedia Remote Control, Stereo Ear Kit, USB Data Cable, User Guide, Software Suite
Accessories: Bluetooth Headset, Leather Pouch, Charger (AU, CN, EU, GB, US), Car Charger, USB Data Cable, Stereo Ear Kit, Battery
1 comment January 28, 2009
RCOM Q3 consolidated net up 3% (India)
Indian cellco Reliance Communications (RCOM) has revealed a 2.7% rise year-on-year in consolidated net profit for the three months ended 31 December 2008. Net profit for the quarter stood at INR14.1 billion (USD286.7 million), up from INR1.37 million a year earlier. Revenues for the operator also rose against the same period last year, climbing 20% to INR58.5 billion, whilst earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 11% y-o-y to INR23.5 billion. RCOM attributed the growth to the increased subscriber numbers, boosted by the launch of GSM and DTH services. RCOM chairman and managing director has announced that the cellco will reduce CAPEX for the next financial year to INR150 billion, down from the INR250 billion it has planned for the existing year; the operator claims to have spent INR160 billion so far this financial year ending March.
RCOM’s subscriber base climbed to 61.35 million at the end of December 2008, up from 56.05 million a year earlier, with the operator reporting that it had signed up ten million customers to its GSM-based services since launch in December 2008. RCOM has announced that its GSM network coverage will expand to approximately 24,000 towns from the current 14,000 it covers in the near future.
In separate but related news RCOM has also announced that it has integrated its GSM and CDMA services in the Orissa circle, and will now offer both under the united banner of ‘Reliance Mobile’. The cellco has claimed that merger will allow it to better utilise its resources and improve growth prospects.
Add comment January 27, 2009
Government announces three-year 3G investment plan (China)
China’s three 3G mobile licensees will invest a total of RMB400 billion (USD58.5 billion) over the next three years in building out their networks, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced today in a statement quoted by Reuters. According to a previous government statement issued in December, the three cellcos – China Mobile (licensed for the homegrown TD-SCDMA technology standard), China Unicom (W-CDMA licence) and China Telecom (CDMA2000-based concession) – are expected to invest USD41 billion in third-generation networks in the next two years, including up to USD29 billion in 2009. China Mobile earlier this month announced a 3G CAPEX of USD8.6 billion in 2009, whilst according to the Ministry’s latest statement, China Unicom and China Telecom will each spend around half the larger cellco’s total, USD4.4 billion, on 3G development this year. This amounts to an annual total CAPEX of USD17.4 billion, significantly less than the previous reported estimate of USD29 billion.
Add comment January 22, 2009
U:fon offers bundled internet, voice call tariffs (Czech Republic)
Czech mobile start-up U:fon, the operating arm of local concern MobilKom, is launching two new tariffs to residential customers, offering bundled voice telephony and internet access with connection speeds of between 256kbps and 700kbps, for either CZK400 or CZK600 (USD18.69 or USD28.04) per month. U:fon started out as a data services provider and added mobile voice calls to its existing portfolio of data transmission and fixed-wireless call services in June 2008. Its CDMA network now covers 80% of the population, a figure it hopes to increase to 85% by the end of the year.
Add comment January 22, 2009
Lattelecom launching mobile internet services (Latvia)
Having announced it would roll out a new fibre-optic broadband network earlier this week, Latvian wireline and broadband operator Lattelecom is set to offer mobile broadband services, according to local news sources. Lattelecom is understood to have inked a deal in December 2008 that will allow it to offer services over Triatel’s CDMA2000 1x-based network in the 450MHz band. Lattelecom will offer mobile internet at speeds of up to 3.1Mbps, and three different packages will be available offering monthly data limits of 500MB, 5GB and 10GB. The operators have been running trials of the service, which were reportedly completed on 21 January.
Add comment January 22, 2009
Sudatel launches Senegal’s third mobile network
Sudanese telecoms operator Sudatel has launched Senegal’s third mobile network under the banner Expresso. The newcomer is using CDMA technology and plans to connect three million subscribers to its mobile network and 150,000 subscribers to its fixed wireless system. Sudatel was awarded a new comprehensive telecoms services licence in Senegal in September 2007. Its winning bid of XOF96 billion (USD200 million) beat off competition from eleven other companies, including the Kuwaiti-owned Celtel Group (now Zain) and Bintel of Saudi Arabia. Sudatel is competing with Senegalese incumbents Tigo Senegal (formerly SENTEL.gsm) and Orange Senegal (formerly Sonatel Mobiles). Its concession will also allow it to provide fixed line and internet services, head to head with France Telecom-backed former monopoly Sonatel.
Add comment January 14, 2009
Iusacell to invest USD 400 mln in GSM network development
Mexican mobile operator Iusacell plans to invest around USD 400 million this year to build a GSM network, alongside its existing CDMA network, local paper Excelsior reports, citing company officials. The deployment of a parallel network based on a different platform is expected to enable Iusacell to enhance its presence on the prepaid mobile market segment. Over 90 percent of Mexico’s mobile customer base are prepaid users, and nearly 92 percent of the overall mobile base uses GSM services. Another player on the local mobile market, Nextel Mexico, is also considering adopting new platforms such as GSM or CDMA. According to Gustavo Cantu, vice president of new business development at Nextel, the adoption of new platforms will largely depend on new blocks of radio spectrum coming available. Iusacell had around 4.71 million customers or 5 percent of the local mobile market at the end of the third quarter of 2008, being the only company in Mexico which operates a CDMA platform. Nextel, which leverages iDen technology, saw around 2.58 million in the same period, covering 3 percent of the market. Using GSM networks, Telcel and Telefonica served 54.38 million and 14.66 million subscribers at end-September 2008, according to data provided by the companies.
Source: http://www.telecompaper.com
Add comment January 8, 2009
ETC launches 3G network (Ethiopia)
Ethiopian Telecom Corporation (ETC), Ethiopia’s sole mobile operator, has announced that it has launched 3G services in the city of Addis Ababa. The operator will offer commercial pre-paid services over a W-CDMA network, offering speeds of up to 384kbps. The network infrastructure will initially be limited to 49 regions of the city, but coverage is expected to grow, although the operator has not announced any specific details of its expansion plans. ETC has also noted that it will launch multimedia messaging services (MMS) and a voice mail service in the near future.
Add comment January 8, 2009
China issues 3G mobile phone licenses
China assigned third-generation mobile phone licenses Wednesday to three carriers in a long-awaited step that is expected to prompt $41 billion in spending on new equipment.
Licenses were granted to China Mobile Ltd., China Unicom Ltd. and China Telecom Corp., the Ministry of Indutry and Information Technology said. Third-generation, or 3G, technology supports Web surfing, wireless video and other services and the start of service is expected to spur new revenue growth.
The awarding of licenses was delayed while China’s government developed its own technology to compete with two global 3G standards.
The Chinese-developed standard, TD-SCDMA, was assigned to China Mobile, the world’s biggest phone carrier by subscribers. That appeared to be an effort to make sure the new system has the financial and technical backing to succeed.
The two global standards, WCDMA and CDMA-2000, were assigned to China Unicom and China Telecom, respectively.
According to AIKresearch’s databse, China has 650 million mobile phone accounts, and Chinese carriers are expected to spend 280 billion yuan ($41 billion) on new equipment.
Such sales will be important to global suppliers Motorola Inc., Alcatel-Lucent SA, Nokia-Siemens Networks and Ericsson AB as demand elsewhere slumps. But they face competition from fledgling Chinese producers.
Add comment January 7, 2009
Rwandatel signs up 120,000 subscribers (Rwanda)
After the launch of Rwandatel’s GSM Network, it has signed up 120,000 subscribers in three weeks of its operation. The company holds 2G, 3G, and GSM technology early this month, after its acquisition by LAP Green networks a subsidiary of Libyan African Portfolio.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Patrick Kariningufu, revealed that this figure reflected the level of the ‘active subscribers’ Rwandatel had as of 21th December 2008. Kariningufu, further said that ‘the progress is good so far’, while attributing the unexpected number of subscribers within three weeks of operations to better network and service delivery. ‘Our network is getting better every single day and the call tariffs are low compared to our competitors, not forgetting the 100 percent top-up bonus’, adding that,’our 3G mobile phones sold as low as Rwf19, 000 with a lot of features such as radio and web browsing, and this has also brought about an increase in the number of subscribers’.
At present, Rwandatel’s only rival; MTN Rwandacell has slightly more than 1 million subscribers. It is anticipated that there will be a stiff competition in Rwanda’s Telecom market next year after the regulator named the third national operator after an international competitive bidding of which Millicom emerged the winner.
Add comment January 5, 2009
KPN completes Debitel acquisition (Netherlands)
KPN has closed the acquisition of Debitel’s Dutch operations including 300,000 postpaid customers and around 230,000 prepaid customers. A part of the Debitel customer base uses the network of Vodafone Netherlands. These customers, which are estimated at around 300,000, will be transferred to Vodafone. KPN is allowed to continue to use the Debitel brand name for 2.5 years, but the operator already announced that all Debitel and Lowcall customers will be transferred to the KPN brand soon. The transaction was announced on 23 October 2008. The completion of the acquisition is approved by the Dutch competition authority, NMa. In 2007, Debitel Netherlands had net sales of approximately EUR 247 million. The company has approximately 130 FTE. The divestment is the last step of Debitel’s strategy to divest its foreign operations to concentrate on the German market.
Add comment January 5, 2009
China to start issuing 3G licences
China’s government, the State Council, agreed on 31 December 2008 to start issuing licences to mobile operators for developing 3G networks, reports Chinese news agency Xinhua. It was agreed at an executive meeting of the State Council that the conditions for handing out the licences were mature. China’s 3G networks will be based on three technological standards, including the Chinese-developed TD-SCDMA , Europe’s WCDMA and North America’s CDMA 2000.
Add comment January 5, 2009
Reliance Communications Starts Nationwide GSM Service (India)
Reliance Communications Ltd., India’s second-largest mobile-phone company, started nationwide wireless services based on the global system for mobile communications, or GSM, to gain customers.
Reliance Communications, which operates services based on the code division multiple access, or CDMA, standard, will initially cover 11,000 towns and 340,000 villages with its GSM service, Chairman Anil Ambani told reporters in Mumbai today. The operator has completed most of the capital spending on the second network and has spent 100 billion rupees ($2.1 billion), he said.
Ambani will use the network based on the popular GSM standard, which accounts for about 75 percent of India’s 336 million wireless users, to help Reliance Communications catch up with Bharti Airtel Ltd. and keep ahead of rivals such as Vodafone Group Plc and NTT DoCoMo Inc.
“We see no reason why we shouldn’t have a 100 million customers,” Ambani said. The operator had almost 60 million customers at the end of November, while Bharti had 83 million and Vodafone’s Indian unit had almost 59 million users.
Reliance Communications gained 7.2 percent to 228.15 rupees in Mumbai trading, the most since Dec. 10. The stock was the second-best performer today on the benchmark Sensitive Index, which rose 1.9 percent.
3G Services
India, the world’s second-largest mobile-phone services market after China, added more than 10 million subscribers for the third straight month in November and is set to attract more operators as it prepares to auction licenses for starting high- speed wireless services next year.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman Nripendra Misra said in October, operators in the U.S., the U.K., France, Italy and Australia may bid for permits to offer the so-called third-generation, or 3G, services, further increasing competition.
Reliance may spend between 20 billion rupees and 40 billion rupees on 3G gear, Ambani said.
DoCoMo, Japan’s biggest mobile-phone operator, considers Asia its biggest priority for expansion, President Ryuji Yamada said on Nov. 18, a week after the company agreed to pay $2.7 billion for 26 percent of India’s Tata Teleservices Ltd. The purchase is aimed at giving the Tokyo-based company entry into the world’s fastest-growing major wireless market and is its largest acquisition in about eight years.
Tata Teleservices will spend $2 billion in the next two years to provide GSM-based wireless services, the Press Trust of India reported in August. Tata Teleservices, which currently offers CDMA mobile-phone services plans to start the GSM services by the end of the year in India, Press Trust said at the time, citing Anil Sardana, the company’s managing director.
Add comment December 31, 2008
RTEC Mobile Lanka soon to launch as a GSM operator in Sri Lanka
RTEC Mobile Lanka, a privately owned telco is all set to launch itself as a GSM and SCDMA operator in the Sri Lankan telecommunication market. According to the Managing Director of RTEC Mobile Lanka B.A.C. Abeywardena, the telco will provide mobile (GSM) services and fixed phone with broadband internet services islandwide.
The service provider is expected to invest $100 million in the project initially. The firm has obtained TRC approval and planning to commence their operations within six months and intends a 100% coverage in two years.
The fixed phones will be manufactured in China according to designs provided by the company and the GSM equipment will also be imported from China. RTEC Mobile Lanka will set up 1000 base stations in the country and also expects to utilise the existing base stations to provide the service.
“We are confident that we could compete with the other players in the industry by providing our services for a cheaper rate with high quality. The company expects to price its call charges at least 25 per cent less than the cheapest call charges available in the market at the moment, he said.
“Maintaing minimum operational cost and using local expertise could help us to provide our services for a lesser price. We are planning to manufacture most of our equipment in the country”.
“We think this is the right time to enter into the market even with the current economic conditions. The whole world is facing an economic crisis and it will last for another one to two years. “This economic crises has resulted in price declines in construction goods and lessened competitiveness. It will create more opportunities for newcomers, he said.
1 comment December 30, 2008
Phone users in Uganda reach 7Mn driven by liberalisation and competition in the market
The subscriber base of phone users in Uganda has reached the mark of 7million, reports Minister of Information, Dr Ham Mukasa Mulira. The Minister says the growth is driven by liberalisation of communication sector and then coming of competition among the private entrants to the market.
Dr Mulira commended the government for having liberalised fully the communications sector. “I am pleased to inform you that the policy adopted has yielded extremely positive results with penetration growing from 5 to 6 per cent in 2006 to over 20 per cent in just over two years,”.
Over the years, the rise in numbers has been driven by slashing calling rates, aggressive marketing and product innovation by both the existing and latest phone companies. At the start of the year, there were about 5.4 million subscribers but the number tremendously rose with the commercial entry of Warid Telecom on February 7 this year.
Add comment December 29, 2008
Zain shifts focus on high-end mobile phone subscribers
In order to lure more subscribers to its data and productivity services, Zain has launched the first of a range of high end mobile phones.
“About 5% of our post paid customers are already Blackberry customers. We want to increase that number and also provide the market with innovative new products that will help people work better,” said Michael Okwiri, Zain Corporate Affairs Director.
This move marks a new shift in the telecommunications firms strategy to lure new subscribers. Since, last six months, Zain is targeting younger and less affluent user, which has augmented its subscriber base and gives tough competition to the new entrants such as Telkom’s Orange Mobile and Econet’s Yu.
Add comment December 29, 2008
3G auction likely to be postponed, CCEA yet to approve the policy
The much-awaited auction of 3G spectrum is likely to be postponed by at least a few weeks as the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) may not get the Cabinet’s approval on vital proposals relating to the services — a move that could delay the start of high-end mobile services like high-speed wireless internet in India.
According to senior DoT officials, the auctioning of 3G spectrum slated for January 16 may be delayed, as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) is yet to approve the policy. The DoT had decided to take the Cabinet’s approval on higher 3G spectrum charge and number of blocks to be auctioned in each circle.
The Telecom Commission had discussed the issue in its meeting on December 19, the officials said, adding that the decision to go to the Cabinet was taken as a precaution in view of the allegations during the allocation of 2G spectrum and new licences in January this year. Sources, however, pointed out that in case the approval was delayed beyond January 2009 the entire process of auctioning of 3G spectrum and the start of high-end mobile services may get derailed due to the general elections.
The DoT had last week held a pre-bid conference of the potential 3G players and had noticed the absence of foreign players, sources said. This could be another reason for the government to delay the process as this may not fetch the expected revenue, they said.
Union IT and Communication Minister A Raja had earlier estimated that the government may garner about Rs 35,000-40,000 crore from the auction of 3G spectrum.
Add comment December 29, 2008
Mobile Connections Reach 4 Billion Worldwide
3G Americas, a wireless industry trade association representing the GSM family of technologies including LTE, today announces that a historic milestone was achieved for the wireless industry in December 2008 with 4 billion connections to mobile devices worldwide. This estimate by Informa Telecoms & Media represents 60% of the entire global population today. In some countries, millions of people are now experiencing connectivity to the world for the first time through wireless and changing their economic, social and political fortunes forever.
The Latin America and Caribbean region continues to show steady consumer growth with 16% year-on-year growth as subscription numbers are expected to reach in excess of 440 million, equating to 76% penetration, noted Marisol Gomez, Americas regional analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media.
Add comment December 26, 2008
Spanish mobile subscribers pass 50 mln mark in Q3
Spanish mobile phone users rose to 50.74 million for a 109.9 percent penetration at the end of the third quarter from 47.61 million, or 105.3 percent, a year earlier, according to telecommunications regulator CMT. Postpaid lines rose to 29.46 million from 27.06 million, and prepaid lines fell to 20.22 million from 20.55 million. Notably, the number of datacards doubled to 1.06 million from 554,218 over the same period, with 574,201 UMTS cards and 482,131 HSDPA cards at the end of September. Mobile call minutes grew to 18.44 billion from 17.75 billion, with calls to fixed lines rising to 1.84 billion from 1.83 billion and calls to mobiles growing to 15.49 billion from 14.84 billion. Movistar had a 45.8 percent share of customers, followed by Vodafone with 30.6 percent, Orange with 20.7 percent, Yoigo with 1.5 percent, Euskaltel with 0.5 percent and other MVNOs 0.9 percent.
Add comment December 26, 2008
Etisalat wins Iran’s third national mobile licence
The government of Iran is thought to have awarded the country’s third national mobile licence to a consortium headed by UAE-based telco Etisalat. A report from CellularNews which cites Iran’s semi-official news agency FARS says that Etisalat has beaten off rival bids from the likes of Omantel of Oman plus MegaFon and Vimpelcom of Russia. The government has said that the new cellular operator is expected to attract investment of around USD3 billion. Iran currently has two national cellular networks run by state-backed operator TCI and private firm MTN-Irancell, which have around 40 million customers between them. Another operator, Taliya, operates a sizeable regional network which serves around 1.5 million users, while there are also at least two other localised mobile networks with only a few thousand subscribers each.
Add comment December 26, 2008
Mozambique to get third cellco
The government of Mozambique is to launch a tender for the country’s third cellular concession in the first half of next year. ‘There is a market. At the moment we are just putting the bidding documents together; we hope to launch an international tender before June 20, 2009’, government minister Paulo Zucula told Reuters. ‘There are 20 million people in Mozambique and only a fraction have access to the mobile phone network, so there is … space for growth and I’m sure that any company that would get the new licence will flourish soon,’ Zucula added. Mozambique is currently home to two cellular operators: state-backed mCel, which has around 3.5 million customers, and the local subsidiary of South Africa’s Vodacom, with around 1.3 million clients.
Add comment December 17, 2008
China to grant 3G licences ‘as early as year-end’
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology today confirmed that the country will issue 3G mobile licences by the end of 2008 or early next year. Minister Li Yizhong said at a media briefing that China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom have prepared well for 3G licensing. ‘After the proper procedures, we will grant the 3G licences by the end of this year or early next year, as promised.’ Li estimates that network investment of the three major Chinese telecom operators will amount to over RMB200 billion (USD29.19 billion), which will stimulate China’s economy and help to fend off the financial crisis.
China’s 3G licensing has been delayed as a result of the government’s support for China’s home-grown 3G mobile telecommunications standard TD-SCDMA. It is believed that this standard still needs some more time to compete with rival technologies. Last year China Mobile rolled out a pre-commercial TD-SCDMA network in eight cities, which provided 3G services during the Beijing Olympic Games. Li confirmed that China Mobile will be granted a TD-SCDMA licence, while China Telecom and China Unicom will get licences based on CDMA2000 and W-CDMA standards respectively.
Add comment December 15, 2008
3G: What’s That?
As the magic of 3G begins to seep into the country, Indian folks will finally get to utilize those fancy-schmancy features on their so called smart phones.
Surely, many of you have burning questions about 3G and everything related to it. So, read on; a few common 3G-related questions have been answered to demystify it for you.
What is 3G?
3G, or 3rd generation mobile telephony, is the generic name for the next generation of mobile networks that will combine wireless mobile technology with high data rate transmission capabilities.
What you’ve been using until now is 2G/2.5G (2nd generation mobile telephony), which offers speeds between 64-144kbps. With the availability of 3G in India, users will be able to enjoy speeds of 144kbps-2mbps on their mobile phones.
What can 3G offer you?
Simply put, 3G will offer mobile phone users faster Internet speeds.
This, in turn, will provide mobile users with higher data transfer rates, with support for a variety of services such as high-resolution video streaming, mobile TV, high-speed interactive gaming, and other multi-media features, in addition to voice, fax, and conventional data services.
If you are an avid surfer of the Internet on your mobile phone with the current 2.5G connection, you must have experienced the irritants of slow browsing speeds and video lag. With 3G, Web pages will load faster, there will be little or no video lagging, and downloads will be faster too!
Utilizing the full potential of 3G, you can turn the mobile phone into a device that bundles infotainment and electronic commerce (e-commerce) services together.
When will you be able to use 3G services?
The state-owned telecom operators have already begun to soft-launch 3G services in the metros. The services (for trial) have already commenced in Delhi, with Chennai and Mumbai in line. The commercial launch will happen in a couple of months’ time – this is when users will be able to subscribe to the data plan(s) offered by the telecom operators.
BSNL has said that it will offer 3G services across the country by mid-2009.
Post mid-2009, we will see private players jumping into the 3G bandwagon. This is when competition will set sail and 3G-penetration across India will really start to materialize.
How much will 3G services cost?
No tariff has been declared by MTNL for its 3G Jadoo services; neither has any governing body given out specifics for the same.
J. Gopalan, MTNL’s (Mumbai) executive director, had said that 3G services will be affordable for the common man . We’ll soon learn whether this is true when the 3G services are commercially launched.
However, rest assured that 3G services are going to cost you more than what you pay for your GPRS connection.
Post the spectrum auctions, depending on the price the private telecom operators are willing to pay to be able to offer 3G services, the tariff scenario will heat up.
How much will 3G-capable phones cost?
Currently, 3G-capable phones available in India cost anywhere between Rs. 7000 to 50,000 (approximately most phones in the upper price range category are 3G capable).
Add comment December 12, 2008
